In their fourth meeting in eight days, the competition was tight between the Janesville Jets and Austin Bruins, but the home team fell just short and suffered a 5-4 overtime loss.
In the previous three games, the Bruins were first to get on the board, but the Jets flipped the script on Sunday. Jared Scott scored his first goal of the season at 4:14 (assists: Kring, Engelkes) to put the Jets up early. Madisonian and third-year Jet Carter Hottmann then scored four minutes later with assists from Kyle Neudorf and Jordon Halverson to put the home team up 2-0.
Travis Shoudy cut the Jets lead to one at 12:13 of the first period, but Janesville quickly earned another goal back thanks to Cade Destefani to end the period 3-1. It was Destefani’s sixth goal in six games and second on the weekend (assists: Neudorf, Casperson).
The first half of the second period passed by quietly, but Austin struck twice with goals from Peter Jacobs and Jayden Jensen to tie the game 3-3. Jake Sacratini then took matters into his own hands with just 54 seconds left to reclaim the Janesville lead with his second goal of the season (assists: Destefani, Bartecko).
The third period was tame on both sides and the Jets were able to kill their 11th penalty of the weekend to remain perfect in the series. But Austin’s Barrett Brooks scored shortly after a Bruins timeout to even the score 4-4 with just 1:49 remaining in regulation.
Janesville got a power play with 1:05 left, but was unable to capitalize in the end of the third and start of overtime. The extra period quickly dwindled, but Frank Dovorany was able to net his first goal of the season at just the right time to win the game 5-4 for Austin with 1:16 left on the clock.
Riley Sims got the nod in net for Janesville on Sunday and made 22 saves.
The Jets are now 4-1-1-0 on the season and have a 2-1-1-0 record against Austin. They remain in first place in the midwest division standings through six games.